A WOMAN found a Victorian Prison hidden in a secret basement underneath her shop.
The last thing Clair Meeson expected when she bought a derelict hardware store in Rugeley, Staffs., was to find cop cells which once housed notorious killers.
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Even though she knew the purchase came with a cellar, she wasn’t aware it used to be an old police station between the years 1845 and 1879.
And to make things even creepier, Clair discovered one of the Victorian era’s most prolific killers, William Palmer, was caged there.
Palmer, also known as the ‘Prince of Poisoners‘, was an English doctor found guilty of murder in the 19th century.
Charles Dickens called Palmer “the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey” after he killed his friend John Cook using Strychnine – a white, odourless, bitter crystalline powder – in 1855.
He was also suspected of killing several other people, including his brother, mother-in-law and four of his children who suddenly died of “convulsions”.
Clair’s business has now became an unlikely attraction for historians, school trips and Halloween paranormal explorers.
She said: “When we purchased the building the first thing we did was clean up the place.
“When we cleaned up we also noticed a cellar, part of that was the cells.
“The only history we knew about the place was that it was an old hardware shop from the 60s up until it closed when Covid happened.
“But we didn’t know it was a police building, we thought the cells were actually a cellar, but when we emptied we realised that it was something much more.”
Clair has since converted the shop into a vintage, used and multi-goods store.
She added: “We actually asked the local history society.
“They had pictures showing that it was also housing at one point.
“We talked to one old lady who remembered the building had a signpost that had the words ‘to the prison cells’ on it, that is what tipped us off.
“If you look at William’s history, he was executed in 1956, and there are records from when he was convicted in 1955 showing that he was placed in Rugeley Police Station, which at the time was this building.
“It’s an amazing bit of history.”
Pamler’s name can also can be seen on a document that charts the known prisoners of the year and their alleged crimes.
Clair said: “We have a framed picture of the records, people ask us all the time, ‘Why is this up?’.
“And when we tell them, they always say ‘We didn’t know it was a police station’.
“We actually have schools who say they’d love to come and visit and the Stafford Paranormal Group came to stay a night.
“We don’t mind people coming in to talk about the history of the place.
“Everyone is more than welcome to come in and have a look around and experience a fantastic bit of almost forgotten history.”
Around 30,000 people were at Stafford Prison on June 14, 1856, to see Palmer’s public execution by hanging at the hands of George Smith.
As he stepped onto the gallows, Palmer is said to have looked at the trapdoor, saying: “Are you sure it’s safe?”
Following his death, a wax figure of Palmer was displayed in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud’s waxwork museum from 1857 until 1979.
He is buried at The Old Chancel in Rugeley.
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